From Russia, With Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles

It’s a sign of just how fast the balance of world power is shifting, that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin oversaw a huge exercise of Russia’s nuclear forces this Wednesday, involving — as the AP reported – “multiple test launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles, a formidable demonstration of Russia’s resurgent military power.” This follows the entry of Russian warships into the Mediterranean, concurrent with the Russia-brokered deal to relieve Syria’s Assad regime of its chemical weapons, at the cost of relieving the U.S. of any real influence in what might come next. That followed the biggest war games launched by the Russian military in more than two decades, involving, as the AP also reported, “160,000 troops, about 5,000 tanks, more than 100 aircraft and dozens of navy ships.”

This week’s nuclear attack drill was eye-catching not only for its size and scope, but for how relatively little attention Russia’s nuclear exercise drew in an America currently focused on the chaos of canceled health insurance policies, soaring premiums and a dysfunctional HealthCare.gov web site. The Russian drill was no small event. As defense expert Bill Gertz of the Washington Free Beacon reports, the drill “included the test launch of two land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and two submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs).” More specifically, the land-based missiles included a silo-based SS-18, a missile with “a range of up to 10,000 miles and up to 10 warheads, or multiple, independently-targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs),” and an SS-25, or Topol missile, test-launched from the Russian base of Plesetsk, “capable of launching up to four MIRVs” with “a range of up to 6,200 miles.”

This is a staggering contrast with the scene I witnessed 18 years ago, while working as a reporter for the Wall Street Journal in newly post-Soviet Russia. In 1995, I visited the Plesetsk space base and missile range — located about 500 miles north of Moscow, and site of this week’s SS-25 test launch. Back then, Russia was on the ropes, and trying out a lot of projects to convert Cold War military equipment into anything that might turn a profit. I went to watch a rocket launch, but it was an SS-25 that the Russians were trying to adapt to carry civilian-use satellites into space.

It was a display both impressive and pathetic. The Russians had struck a deal with an Israeli technical institute, to use an adapted SS-25 to put an Israeli prototype communications satellite into orbit, for the use of amateur radio buffs. Members of the press were invited — Israeli, Russian, and Moscow-based foreign reporters. It turned into a rolling fiasco. The Israeli reporters, arriving from Tel Aviv, were held up by Russian customs officers, who tried to confiscate their satellite phones. The chartered plane to take reporters from Moscow to Plesetsk was late taking off — in those days, it sometimes took a while at Russian airports to hunt down fuel. When we got to Plesetsk, with little time left before the launch, there was an altercation between some of the reporters, who wanted a closeup shot of the missile ready for launch, and a Russian military officer, who wanted them to go no closer than the safely distant viewing area. I still remember him screaming at one of the press liaisons, “No! They cannot go there! I am about to launch a ballistic missile!”

The launch itself was awe-inspiring. We could see the missile, on its mobile launcher. When it took off, the ground shook. I mean, it really shook. For a moment, there was nothing in the universe but the tremendous force boosting that missile. I had the obvious thought: You never want something like this, armed with nuclear warheads, actually heading in your direction.

That satellite launch failed. The Russians at Plesetsk told us it was all going well, but by the time we got back to Moscow that evening, the news was that the converted missile had gone down somewhere over the Sea of Okhotsk.

Plesetsk had more troubles later that year. In October, 1995, there were reports that its electrical power had gone out — one of a series of power blackouts at Russian military bases, as the post-Soviet government tried to sort out new ways of managing the electrical grid. At the Journal’s Moscow bureau, my colleagues and I had a half-jocular half-nervous debate over what that meant — and whether anything untoward might happen if the power suddenly came back on. But we were worried about accidents in those days, not some abrupt return of a Russian nuclear threat.

These days, it appears that Plesetsk has sorted out its electrical problems, and that SS-25 test launch on Wednesday, part of a much larger drill, was not about trying to put civilian-use satellites into space. It was about the ability to hit nuclear targets. Gertz quotes a Russian spokesman as saying, according to Russian news agencies, “All launches took place as expected. All of the practice targets were hit.”

Elsewhere, earlier last month, U.S. Acting Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller told the United Nations’ Committee on Disarmament (the so-called First Committee, where Iran now serves as rapporteur) that while the conditions for a world free of nuclear weapons do not yet exist, the U.S. is prepared to do its part, and is planning to further reduce its deployed strategic nuclear weapons.

And while all this goes on, Iran is watching. And spinning its uranium centrifuges. And the New World Order taking shape in 2013 is ever more dramatically different and more dangerous than it looked from Plesetsk, just 18 years ago.

Patton wanted to march on Moscow in 1945, when we had the momentum, they had suffered tremendous damage from the Nazis and were vulnerable. He was refused, and the USSR clawed it's way back to superpower status. Reagan outspent and out produced them and famously said "Tear down this wall" which happened, and yet again, we did not take advantage. The Romania people ousted its dictatorship under Ceausescu and was ripe for alliance with the US, we did not help them. Obama came on the scene and immediately severed our front line battle defenses with the former eastern bloc nations and caused them to distrust us. Soviet communism has been the many headed hydra that keeps coming back to life because the US has lost it's will to win. Russian has always been about winning at any cost.

Obama is just the titular and unfortunately the most visible part of our National problem which is actually our changing voting demographic.

This change is, wittingly or unwittingly, based upon the influx of young ill-educated or un-educated millions of illegals from Central and South America through Mexico, and of course including the Mexicans themselves.

These are of course joining our already potent underclass of the ill-educated and the un-educated young who're subsisting on U.S. Taxpayers' re-distributed means.

So, we've got the makings of a permanent numerical voting majority of eager seekers of the benefits eagerly proffered by the Democrat party in this obvious vote buying campaign.

Now.....what's all this got to do with our Russian/Iranian/Chinese Problem? It ensures the circular continuity of the likes of our current disastrous "administration".....indefinitely.

Looking to turn my frown upside down. Maybe the site's blustering brahmins can do better than explain how it's darkest before the dawn place/when the going get's tough blah blah/we will fight them on the landing grounds stuff/nil desperandum thing whatever, etc. etc. But the expectation, sadly, is loud silence.

IMO, Roosevelt was dead wrong: the worst thing we have to fear is... GOP leadership itself. Meanwhile, bad and really pitiful grandpas nod-off again and the word that comes to mind is TOAST. It is necessary remind the mediocrities behind the curtain that the twin purposes of the state are 1/ to conduct foreign policy, and 2/ to provide for common security. What have Boehner and his petunias done for you lately?

Ms. Rosett is on target yet again. As for the U.S. is prepared to do its part... well, we all know now what that means. Do we have any allies left to lose? Would you trust today's US?

Wiggle all you want. We've heard it a zillion times and it won't wash. The lesser-of-two-evils argument will get you and your kind into the WH because we're too stupid to notice the old farts'n'troughers track record? Dream on.

FYI, the US has several strategic nuclear command and control exercises every year. I have played in about a half a dozen. If you have strategic forces, you exercise the command and control of those strategic forces. Russia had never stopped doing nuclear CPXs. There is nothing to this story other than it got noticed.

One has to think the military flexing was primarily aimed at the Chicoms, as in STAY OUT OF SIBERIA. Elsewhere, it’s: any crack or crevasse we can get into and not be squeezed back out of right away because we have this in our back pockets, SEE. It’s not likely it was aimed at Israel either because, as was just pointed out, Russians are opportunists to the hilt. And while Obama might have gotten a lot of the US military out of Europe this doesn’t make Europeans pushovers because of it. And, as far Mother Russia is concerned, military flogging boosts flagging diplomatic testosterone; it’s a time honored tradition. Getting back to the Bamster: it is indeed “mission accomplished.”

Patton wanted to march on Moscow in 1945, when we had the momentum, they had suffered tremendous damage from the Nazis and were vulnerable. He was refused, and the USSR clawed it's way back to superpower status. Reagan outspent and out produced them and famously said "Tear down this wall" which happened, and yet again, we did not take advantage. The Romania people ousted its dictatorship under Ceausescu and was ripe for alliance with the US, we did not help them. Obama came on the scene and immediately severed our front line battle defenses with the former eastern bloc nations and caused them to distrust us. Soviet communism has been the many headed hydra that keeps coming back to life because the US has lost it's will to win. Russian has always been about winning at any cost.

The history of civilizations always follow the same pattern. Ascent, success, and then decline. BHO is a whole other matter. This is the first civilization that is being taken down by infiltrators who seek its demise.

Such is the price of freedom?

That is yet to be seen. But there is only one guarantee, the sword will be raised against our government. It is simply human nature. Nothing you or me can do about it. The dysfunction is institutionalized. The takers will fight, and so will the makers.

To be quite honest, it is not even a fair fight. Why the losers in life do not realize this is absolutely astounding. Socialism, communism, marxism have a 100% failure rate.

But of course BHO thinks that he is different. Mao, Lenin, Stalin and the rest of his fellow travelors "just didn't do it right."

He alone, BHO will cease the seas from rising and restore order in the world.

Great job you butt licker.

The last stage of a civilization is to be overrun. That time is coming in short order.